My intro into the tatting world: Many years ago… early 70s, I went to a tatting class of about 2 classes. It was funny because I was looking for the room with the tatting class and saw a class with all women in it and thought it had to be it. I went in and asked if it was the tatting class and they all laughed and looked at me like I was an idiot and said it was the accounting class. Well, anyway, took that class and made a cross bookmark that I gave away to hubby’s grandmother. I used #10 thread, with my metal bobbin shuttle. So years later I find the shuttle and decide to use sewing thread to try to make another one, because I thought that would be more like tatting thread, which one couldn't find anywhere, and no internet then. The thread would get little kinks in it, and if I popped the thread, they would pop out. But there was this one fatal kink that looked like the others, but when I popped it, the thread snapped! We had only learned the very basics – rings, chains, picots. We hadn’t learned how to add thread, or fix mistakes! I went screaming into the night, not to return to tatting for 40 some odd years.
Dec 2015, I was poking around in my hoarded up craft room and found the practice piece from that old tatting class and my shuttle:
As I picked up the shuttle, I was horrified to realize my mind was a complete blank, absolutely nothing was coming back to me! I realized I was pretty much starting from scratch and it was not at all like riding a bike (it doesn’t necessarily come back when you try it again, like bike riding does). So, I needed to just practice my stitches, and wanted to actually make something while doing it. My shuttle had tiny red thread on it (how'd that get on there?), and I knew I needed something larger, since I was back to beginner status. I thought and thought, about what I could put some #10 thread on so I wouldn't have to unwind all that tiny shuttle thread, and came up with wooden ice cream spoons, sewing bobbin, or pinch type clothespins, and made the simple butterfly from: http://www.tattedtreasures.com/2011/09/reading-patterns-and-making-projects-part-1/
I took my time practicing the stitches and making them well, before I tried to make the cross again. Other's were making a snowflake from: http://teridusenburystattletales.blogspot.com/2014/09/tatting-snowflake-pattern-wheel-of-fortune.html?m=1 - but I didn't want to do a real project yet, where I might get stuck. I wanted to keep practicing the little I knew till I was comfortable, and not sweating over simple stitches .
As I looked at the pattern, I began to see an 'angel' in the edge of it, and decided that's what I'd do:
Learning to tat again from https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1F0C9E52018DDB0B and trying little motifs/flowers here and there, I was finally ready to attempt my cross again. I was able to find a cross that was so similar to the one I made in another workbasket mag, which I could no longer find, but the only difference was, this one had picots (silent t, sounds like pee ko).
It was in WORKBASKET V19, N.4 - JAN 1954, PGs 26 & 27. I like picots, so went with it, and finally made my cross, this time in size #70 vintage thread, found loads of that on ebay.
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